Mother of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick Killed in Boat Accident

The mother of the CEO of the ride-hailing company Uber died in a boat accident Friday evening in Fresno County, the company said.

(Published Saturday, May 27, 2017)

The mother of the CEO of the ride-hailing company Uber died in a boat accident Friday evening in Fresno County, the company said.

Bonnie Kalanick, 71, died after the boat she and her husband, Donald, 78, were riding hit a rock in Pine Flat Lake in the eastern part of the county, authorities said.

They are the parents of Travis Kalanick, 40, who founded Uber in 2009. The company has since grown to become an international operation with a market value of nearly $70 billion.

The couple from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Northridge have been longtime boaters. In a memo to Uber staff, Liane Hornsey, the chief human resources officer, called the incident an "unthinkable tragedy." She wrote that "everyone in the Uber family knows how incredibly close Travis is to his parents."